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GOP looks past Sarah Palin for 2012

According to a new poll, two-thirds of Republicans don’t want Palin to run. |
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The counter-argument from Palin fans is predictable: She’s a maverick. She plays by her own rules. She can run for president in her own way.

There’s some truth to that: The fact that Palin has virtually no presidential-caliber staff or establishment support, and little proven fundraising ability doesn’t mean she won’t make an impulsive entry into the race.

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POLITICO reported on Tuesday that a law firm with ties to Palin had been making inquiries about filing deadlines in early presidential states. She has made a handful of trips to primary battlegrounds, showing up in New Hampshire on the same day as Mitt Romney’s campaign kickoff and appearing at the Iowa State Fair on the eve of the Ames Straw Poll.

In each case, Palin has attracted a whirlwind of media attention – thanks in no small part to a national press corps that can’t seem to get enough of her personality, and that would surely cover her as closely as the frontrunners.

What’s more, in a presidential race that has been driven by free media and televised debates, Palin’s camera-ready style and endless supply of one-liners could work to her advantage against a collection of stiff and gaffe-prone opponents.

Conservative strategist Keith Appell, who helped promote the pro-Palin film “The Undefeated” over the summer, said a strongly defined figure like Palin could carve out a place for herself in a churning presidential race.

“A lot of conservative/tea party support is fluid. It has migrated from Bachmann to [Rick] Perry to Cain,” Appell said. “She’s capable of picking up a lot of that initially and, if she exceeds expectations, she could easily parlay that into top-tier status very quickly.”

Said Iowa tea party organizer Ryan Rhodes: “I think by virtue of her talents, she’s an automatic factor wherever she goes.”

But Palin’s star power and show-business talent can only get her so far, as party leaders have been increasingly comfortable saying in public.

That might be the clearest indication of how much Palin’s political brand has deteriorated. Where political elites once feared her – or at minimum avoided criticizing her – they aren’t quite so careful anymore.

Even some top Republicans who once praised Palin now speak of her in weary-sounding terms.

“I’ve never gotten around the question of her having left the governorship of Alaska midterm,” former Vice President Dick Cheney said in a September radio interview. “I’ve never heard that adequately explained.”

In New Hampshire, influential Union Leader publisher Joe McQuaid penned a wry column last month describing Palin as a political celebrity who “might need to learn to walk before she runs.”

There’s a sense, in other words, that Palin’s moment has already passed, whether she knows it or not.

“Sarah Palin can and should have done so much more in the last two years to bolster her credentials, to demonstrate depth, to demonstrate substance as opposed to style,” said former White House press secretary Ari Fleischer. “She had a window and I don’t think she used it wisely.”

If Sarah Palin enters the the race (and for the sake of the future of the USA I hope she does) she will become the Republican Candidate going on to win the in the 2012 Presidential Election by a landslide not seen since Ronald Reagan ran and won against Jimmy Cater. And that you can take to the bank.

".... only 31 percent of Republican primary voters said they wanted Palin to run for president."

With 31 percent, Palin would be the frontrunner even before officially entering the race. Once she enters, she would have won decisively.

"... two fifths of Republicans – 41 percent – said there was “no chance” they’d support Palin in 2012."

With three-fifths of Republicans ( 60 percent ), Palin would have won the GOP nomination decisively. In the general election those 40% will never vote for Obama, who has a record low approval rating among the GOP, and will have to vote for Palin.

" Despite having universal name recognition, Palin rarely scores higher than the low teens in GOP primary polling. That’s good enough for a third- or fourth-place finish, but not much more."

Even before officially entering the race, before spending a single cents on campaigning, before making a single effort on reaching out to voters, before investing a single second of her time to talk to voters, before hiring a single campaign staff to manage the campaign.....Sarah Palin has already consistently secured a third place finish......

In fact, Sarah Palin may be looking past the moribund GOP. They need her worse than she needs them. Anyway, better 4 more years of Obama than another Establishment Republican who pleases the likes of Rove & Krauthammer. If Sarah doesn't run, there are millions of Conservatives who won't vote for anybody.

- Rollins emphad the minuscule amount of time Palin would have to prepare: “Throw in the challenge of participating in several debates, putting a campaign organization together in Iowa, New Hampshire, South Carolina, Nevada and Florida, and raising sufficient funds to compete in those states is a sure formula for failure.”

Yeah right......this is the kind of advice this smart alec has been giving to Huckabee and Bachmann.....True enough Ed Rollins' formula is a sure formula for failure.

Compared that to Palin who is not following the Rollins' formula for failure: she has not participated in several debates; she had not put a campaign organization in any early states; she had not raise funds for those early states.....

MiTT ROMNEY is the state and national polls favorite to win the GOP nomination and the general election to become our next POTUS in 2012. Intrades numbers for MiTT ROMNEY are another indication of MiTT's winning the WH in 2012.

Sarah Palin will endorse the GOP nominee. Americans are UNITING TO REPLACE OBAMA.

- What’s more, in a presidential race that has been driven by free media and televised debates, Palin’s camera-ready style and endless supply of one-liners could work to her advantage against a collection of stiff and gaffe-prone opponents.

Finally, after reading so much craps and rubbish in this article, these words are the most intelligent and truthful. At least the third-tier journalists at Politico are not idling and sleeping 100%, maybe 95%.... only.

A collection of stiff and gaffe-prone opponents ? And they have the cheek and shame to challenge Obama, the Democrat machine and the lamestream media ?

- In New Hampshire, influential Union Leader publisher Joe McQuaid penned a wry column last month describing Palin as a political celebrity who “might need to learn to walk before she runs.”

Why must Sarah Palin learns to walk when she already knows how to run ?

By the time those GOP Dwarfs learn to walk, the GOP voters would have been turned off and put to sleep. These GOP Dwarfs should have learned how to walk and run years or months ago, not now when it is already too late.

Look at these GOP Dwarfs learning to walk slowly as they are being picked and targeted by the lamestream media. By the time these GOP Dwarfs knows how to walk, they would have been crippled by the lamestream media.

My impression is that Sarah Palin is attempting to avoid the entire vetting process that has taken down Perry. Maybe she is under the impression that she is more popular than she really is.

Voters should get to see what the candidate has to say, measure them by their performance to answer questions on a broad range of subjects. More importantly, can Palin demonstrate that she has changed. Is she able to answer tough questions, intelligently argue how to turn around the economy, how she would cut spending, (and other issues)

However she still remains on the sidelines figuring out the odds of how she can remain a key member of the republican party.